Winds blow trees onto cars, homes

Friday

Feb 1, 2013 at 6:00 AM

By Linda Bock TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

The weird, wacky weather continued Thursday as the high temperature for Worcester broke the record for the second day in a row, and gusty winds caused property damage and extensive power outages throughout the region.

Wednesday’s high temperature of 56 degrees broke the record of 53 degrees set on Jan. 30, 1938, and Thursday’s high temperature of 59 also recorded at Worcester Regional Airport, topped the record 57 degrees set on Jan. 31, 1988. Thursday’s high temperature was recorded very early, hitting the high 50s after midnight through dawn, and then gradually declined.

“Anything in the 50s (for the end of January) is certainly an anomaly,” said National Weather Service Meteorologist Matt L. Doody, at the Taunton office.

The wind gusts and blustery conditions that started overnight into Thursday caused many trees and tree limbs to fall, including on houses and power lines, as well as a car traveling in Uxbridge Thursday morning. The extremely windy conditions made highway driving especially tricky throughout the morning commute.

The maximum wind gusts for the region reported on the National Weather Service’s website were 64 mph at 4:58 a.m. in Milford, 47 mph at 5:15 a.m. in Charlton, 46 mph at 8:53 in Fitchburg, 55 mph at 9:13 at the Worcester airport and 46 mph at 8:53 a.m. at the Fitchburg airport.

A 30-foot pine tree crashed through the bedroom of Nancy Buffone’s home at 41 Pleasant St. in Grafton about 4:30 a.m. Thursday. No one was injured.

About 6:30 Thursday morning, a 25-year-old Blackstone woman was driving north on Route 146 near Exit 2 in Uxbridge when a felled tree from the median area flew into her 2007 Honda Civic and crushed the roof. The driver, Melissa M. Whiting of Blackstone, suffered head injuries and was taken for treatment to UMass Memorial Medical Center — University Campus in Worcester, according to police.

About 5 a.m., Webster firefighters evacuated adults and children from a two-family building at 4 Snow St. after a tree fell on the roof, according to Fire Chief Brian Hickey. No one was injured.

“The tree hit the roof pretty good,” Chief Hickey said, and also struck the second floor in the back of the building. “Of course, it was pouring rain.”

The town’s building inspector is expected to visit the house to assess structural damage. Homes in Grafton and Uxbridge were hit by toppled trees. There were no injuries.

School in Douglas was canceled because of the weather.

Heavy winds, with downed trees, knocked out power in scattered areas. National Grid reported more than 10,000 customers without service in Worcester County Thursday, with 1,000 outages each in Oxford, Grafton and Millbury. Oxford and Spencer and Hubbardston, once with heavy outages, were close to full power Thursday morning, but 3,800 National Grid customers in Worcester County were still without power early Thursday afternoon.

“Definitely, predominantly weather-related,” said Charlotte McCormack, spokesman for the National Weather Service. “The outages were fairly widespread in Eastern and Central Massachusetts.”